The rising seas, in film and song

Oct 26, 2017

“Tidewater” explores the challenge of sea level rise in the Tidewater region of Virginia and North Carolina.

Camden — Bob and Jeanne Zentz will host a screening of the award-winning documentary “Tidewater” (2017, USA) Sunday, Nov. 5, at 2 p.m. at the downtown Camden Public Library. They will add to the afternoon with several songs, and will facilitate a discussion of rising sea levels and how they affect oceanside communities.

Bob Zentz, the Tidewater Troubadour, draws on more than 50 years of singing, teaching and learning, as a teacher, broadcaster, sailor, recording artist and award-winning songwriter. His work entertains and educates through a sense of history, humanity, humor and musicianship. Historian and writer, educator and musician Jeanne McDougall Zentz sings with her husband and long-time partner in watery places around our watery planet.

“Tidewater” tells the cautionary tale of Hampton Roads, Va., relatively unknown nationwide but the region whose vulnerability to sea level rise most affects military readiness and overall national security. With 14 military installations spread across 17 local jurisdictions, it is the highest concentration of military assets in the country, where one in six residents are associated with the military. Their homes, schools, hospitals and families are increasingly struggling to keep up with the effects of rising waters; and the military and all the surrounding municipalities are working towards solutions in the name of strengthening national security and enhancing economic prosperity.

Hampton Roads requires $1 billion in urgent infrastructure repairs with 900 miles of its roads and electric grid threatened by permanent flooding. Faced with these unprecedented challenges that can only be tackled by a wide range of stakeholders, from ordinary citizens to the U.S. Navy to local businesses, “Tidewater” demonstrates that an innovative whole-of-government problem-solving model being attempted by local and military leaders is the only way to ensure the continued strength of our national security, along with the continued prosperity of the region and the nation.